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Agents of SHIELD

See, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was the last time my wife and I followed a TV series together. I worked nights, so we’d tape it and watch it together on the weekends. We watched almost every episode together. Then we’d buy the seasons on DVD and re-watch them.

After we had kids, that kinda evaporated. We didn’t have the time for such a luxury at first, and, later, the TV (when it was on) was tuned to stuff that was age-appropriate for the boys.

They’re older now, and I no longer work a night shift at the newspaper, so it seemed as if the stars were lining right up when a Whedon-helmed Agents of SHIELD TV series was announced. My kids were gargantuan fans of the Marvel movies — and my wife liked ’em, too. A Marvel-spinoff TV series with the Whedon touch?

This was going to be the first time the entire Guigar family was planning to gather in front of the TV to follow a TV series.

Ever.

They had us a “Welcome to Level 7.”

All of those little Joss Whedon touches in the pilot that brought back memories of Buffy for the adults (and Avengers for the boys) just sparkled. The dialogue snapped and the story crackled briskly through to a satisfying introduction to a promising series.

So last night, my betrothed rushed home from yoga class after pulling off her first headstand, popcorn was popped, homework was completed, showers were taken and the kitchen was cleaned after my triumphant presentation of thick smoked pork chops we brought home from the West Side Market during last week’s trip to Ohio for a wedding.

The 7yo was the first one to bail. The LEGOs were calling and he answered. Smart kid.

As we trudged from one scene to another, it got downright painful. Time and again, the dialogue would go through a beautiful set-up only to deliver a cliched dud. Opportunity after opportunity was lost. Where we were expecting that electric delivery from last week, we were given a formulaic run-through of worn-out idioms and tropes.

Remember “Welcome to Level 7”? What made that scene work was the immediate self-conscious nod by Agent Coulson, who crisply retorts an apology for standing out of sight in the shadows during the opening of the scene, “…I think there’s a bulb out.” That’s unexpected and charming and endearing. What did we get in episode two? “Don’t call me ‘Cavalry’ ” and “I told you never to call me that [‘Cavalry’]” — followed by… nothing.

All set-up / no delivery.

I guess the bright idea to hand the writing duties to Joss Whedon’s brother and sister-in-law didn’t exactly pay off.

By the end, my wife was telling me how good Sleepy Hollow was, and my son — so much like his old man — was insisting that it was going to get better.

One way or another, I doubt we’ll be in a rush to get in front of the TV next Tuesday. That is, unless my wife lets me pull out those old Buffy DVDs.

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Discussion (16) ¬

For me, neither episode has been all that great. It’s not the worst show I’ve ever seen, but it’s definitely far from the best. I reminds me of all those CW shows where everyone is young and attractive, the plot isn’t awful and the acting is okay. It’s all about the concept and a vague and distant hope that it might get better.

I feel like I need to watch it in the same way that I went back and re-watched Thor… because it mattered to the Avengers movie. I have a not-so-sneaking suspicion that it will all play into Avengers 2 and for some reason I just feel like it would be terrible if I didn’t know all the stupid little details beforehand.

The place in Agents of Shield Ep. 2 where I lost it was the inflatable raft. I’m not going to say more here where people may not have seen the episode, but c’mon, if you have seen it you know what I’m talking about. If the rest of the show had been better maybe my abillity to suspend my disbelief would have kicked in, but yes, for all that you have said and more, it did not!

Second episodes are notoriously difficult to pull off- remember how Buffy’s second episode involved Buffy going to cheerleading tryouts? I’d give it some more time to find its characters- really, Firefly is the only Joss Whedon show that’s come out of the gate fully-formed.

Also, his brother and sister-in-law were responsible for Dr. Horrible and the best Dollhouse episodes, so I’m still excited to see what they can do with this show.

Many shows take a little time to find their legs. I rarely bail on a show after just two episodes. That said… there are definitely some things wrong with the show. The action is almost two frenetic at times and coupled with muddy cinematography that can make the show difficult to follow. The use of a life raft in that way was… hard to take. I’ll make a final decision in, probably, another four episodes.

This is the same universe as Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, and Thor. They were retrieving a “tesseract powered” device from a Peruvian temple that can apparently be activated by a remote-controlled quad-copter.

And you’re complaining that something large and flexible was able to seal a hole in the side of a plane? I had more of a problem with the unlimited air in the plane that kept rushing out forever, no matter how much altitude the plane lost in the dive.

Writers of television and movies have ignored the realities of decompression since there has been visual media! There’s a whole lot of junk science in this series, like there is in comics. Starting with what a tesseract actually is (not a power source, per se).

From the previews I was hoping we would be following possible up and coming heroes, that S.H.I.E.L.D. was finding and helping to grow, or catching the bad ones. So far we have followed someone that we thought was a growing hero, but turned out he was just using a device, and secondly, a device using a power source that was powerful… I’m hoping it goes back to Mike and tell us if they got the device off him etc… Plus what happened to Coulson, that brought him back… I know that the sub plots could be there, but only time will tell if they actually develop any of it. But yes, back to the up and coming heros / villians!

Honestly… I was kinda eye-rolley over that scene, too. 🙂 Maybe I’m just a cynic. But listen, the guy runs SHIELD, right? If he doesn’t want to pay for the new plane, all he has to do is refuse to sign the check, right? So what’s with the dramatics?